


A Sky of Stars

by Bandity



Series: Voltron Whump Week [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Intoxication, It's me so someone is going to puke, Langst, Underage Drinking, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 08:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11894253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandity/pseuds/Bandity
Summary: Lance was having a good night. So he wasn't really sure how he ended up lost and wandering around the woods alone. His team would come for him, right?





	A Sky of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 8 of Whump week: FREE DAY (intoxication)
> 
> I am free! Last day! Prompt came from a friend, because I didn't know what I wanted to do with the last day.

It was a celebration. The first one they’d had in a while. They had successfully freed a planet from the Galra and the team had been invited to take part in the party afterwards. The food was amazing. The inhabitants were incredibly friendly and, according to Lance, the ladies were absolutely beautiful.

The people of this planet were known as the Dorveen. Their skin was a gentle brown and the hair on their heads was a shining silver. They were very tall and thin, much like the trees that completely covered this world.

The celebration was in the huge lodge that sat at the edge of the main city. Everyone seemed to be there and it was absolutely packed. 

The party had been going on for some time and they were all socializing easily. Well, most of them were. Refreshments were being passed around and Pidge and Keith both took a glass of a peach colored drink when it was offered to them. They were standing at the edge of a group, talking, trying to politely excuse themselves. Pidge wanted to get back to the castle and work on a few projects and Keith was done with social interaction for the day.

They seemed to both become aware of each other’s goals and were trying to make their escape at the same time. Someone was asking Pidge something and she nodded, bringing the glass to her lips.

There was a familiar metal hand shoved into her face, pushing the glass away from her mouth.

“Shiro!” Pidge was startled and she nearly dropped the glass. She stopped herself from swearing as she had been told, on more than one occasion, that it was unbecoming of a paladin of Voltron to cuss at social functions.

“That’s alcohol.” Shiro said, taking the glass from her.

“They gave it to me.”

Shiro leaned over and took Keith’s glass as well. Keith didn’t actually care.

“I know they gave it to you, but you’re not drinking this.”

“I think I’m old enough to drink on this planet.”

“Not this. I took one sip and I could already feel it. I’m not drinking it either.”

Pidge frowned.

“I talked to Coran. He agreed; none of us should drink it. It’s not made for humans.”

“What about Keith? He could try.”

“I don’t want it.” Keith was wondering if he could make his escape now.

Pidge wasn’t actually interested in drinking it; she just thought her argument had a point. They could save the universe and risk their lives, but they couldn’t drink alcohol?

Hunk appeared at Keith’s shoulder.

“Has anyone seen Lance?”

They all fell silent and looked around the room.

“He was talking to a group of girls over there a while ago.” Pidge stood up on her tiptoes to try to get a better view of the spot where she had last seen Lance, but Lance wasn’t there. “Maybe he went off with one of the girls?”

“He’d better not have.” Shiro had that warning tone that he used when he was scolding them for something.

“He wouldn’t separate away from us,” Hunk assured them. “He knows not to go far.”

Shiro sighed. He was hoping Lance was just out of sight, but his gut twisted, telling him that something wasn’t right.

“Okay, Hunk and I will go look for him. Pidge, Keith, can you stay here in case he comes back?”

Pidge and Keith both looked mildly horrified at the idea of more forced socializing.

“Okay, sorry. Let me tell Coran, we’ll all go look for him together.”

* * *

 

Lance had been having a good time. He was hanging with a group of lovely ladies, telling them stories of his legendary defending and, also, talking about skin and hair care, because the Dorveen had the most beautiful smooth skin and shiniest hair he had ever seen.

They were just telling him about the tree oils they use on their hair when one of the servers handed him a drink. He gulped it without thinking, because all the talking had made him thirsty. It burned all the way down and he choked.

The group went silent as he coughed.

“Sorry, sorry. Went down the wrong tube.” Lance thumped his chest, though he couldn’t feel it through the armor. Sometimes Lance wished he could just wear regular clothes to these things. They wore the armor so that they could all look presentable. The people expected the Voltron paladins and apparently the paladins of Voltron looked sloppy in jeans and hoodies. At least that’s what Allura seemed to imply.

He continued on the conversation with the ladies and he took teeny, tiny sips because it was the polite thing to do. They were just starting to talk about the upkeep of fingernails when Lance felt his stomach do a flip. He ignored it.

Another flip and whoa suddenly his vision looked a bit blurry and the number of ladies he was talking to doubled. There was a pain in his head and the contents of his stomach rose up his esophagus.

_Uh-oh._

“Excuse me,” he managed to choke out before he ran for the exit.

He tossed his drink glass into a bush once he was outside and made for the tree line. Once he was mostly hidden behind one of the beautiful trees, he vomited all over its trunk and roots.

He tried not to be loud about it, but with the way his head pounded, all he could hear was blood rushing to his ears as he bent over and hurled everything that he’d eaten that day… week… lifetime.

It was a lot.

He was gasping for air, desperately trying to stay upright by leaning on the trunk.

“Sorry,” he muttered while looking at the mess he had made of this tree. His head felt like it was about to float off somewhere. The ground beneath seemed to be shaking under his feet. Like it was the slowest moving earthquake in the universe. Like it was made of pudding.

Lance retched at the thought of pudding.

He groaned and wiped at his mouth. He couldn’t go back to the party sick like this. He was all sweaty and gross. He needed to go back to the castleship and lie down for the next few days.

Which way did they park the castle? Lance let out a quiet laugh that hurt his throat. _Park the castle._

“’s sounds funny.” Lance mumbled to himself. After a few more deep breaths, Lance stumbled into the dark, knowing the ship wasn’t far.

* * *

 

He was walking through the trees for a long time. For nights and nights. There was no sign of the ship. Maybe it was the other way. Lance turned in the dark and walked to his right. Yes, this felt better. Going downhill was good.

So he walked and walked and honestly he was really uncomfortable. He was all sweaty and his face felt too hot. _Maybe it was more a left direction after all_. His armor was making him too warm and it was heavy, making him stumble all over the place.

The gauntlets came off first and then the rest of it. He was down to his undersuit and his chest piece, because he needed some of the light to see of course.

He tossed his boots to the side and walked on without them. _I don’t need shoes. The ground is pudding._

He was on the ground and spitting out grass before he realized what had happened. He had tripped. His leg was stuck.

Lance tried to move, but a sharp agony shot up the limb.

Gasping he did his best to curl up, look at his feet, find out what happened.

He had just enough light to see the metal teeth and the chain that was attached to the contraption.

_An alien… bear trap?_

Now that he saw it, he became aware of the pain of the teeth digging into his calf. His head still felt a bit floaty, but he was aware enough to know that this was bad. There had to be a way to release it. There had to be…

His fingers scrabbled to pull the teeth apart, but they were clenched tight. If his stomach stopped flipping around, maybe he could think of a way to free himself instead of having to concentrate on not throwing up. His fingers slipped over the metal and he didn’t need the light to know it was blood.

Lance turned his head and heaved.

 _Okay, okay, okay. Don’t panic. Can you get the chain out of the ground?_ Lance tugged at the links.

Nope. That jerked his foot around and just sent waves of pain through his body. Maybe he would pass out and he could rest and get away from the pain? Wait, that sounded like dying.

He couldn’t die out here. It was so stupid. If anything he might lose his foot.

Real fear and loneliness overtook his mind.

“Guys?” He called weakly. “I’m somewhere where I’m not supposed to be.” Lance swallowed. Lost. He was lost.

“Hunk? Shiro?”

There was no response. Breathing erratically, Lance lay down on his back and watched the stars through the trees. They were so bright and clear here. They all sort of swirled around each other too, creating a kaleidoscope effect. It was dizzying.

“Guys?” He called softly. “It’s really cold now.”

He blinked, maybe everything was looking a little less blurry, but he was pretty sure he was going into shock.

They weren’t going to find him. He was going to be stuck out here forever because he couldn’t get the chain off….

Wait.

His bayard could shoot through the metal.

Lance’s bayard quickly materialized in his hand and formed into his gun.

_Alright, so just aim… Don’t shoot off your foot…_

Lance pulled the trigger and the shot went wide, hitting the stupid, pudding ground. Lance grit his teeth and tried again. He heard the metal break, felt the way it jerked his leg. He cried out. He couldn’t help it. Lance grit his teeth and tried to blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes.

He needed to concentrate. He was free from the chain, so technically he could drag himself back the way he came.

The way he came…

Lance looked around. From down on the ground, all the trees looked the same. _Which way?_

His head hurt. It was like someone was drilling a hole into the side of his skull and it made him feel so sick. He pulled himself backwards, trying to move in the right direction. But his leg caught on the ground and he was in agony again. He was really crying now. In irritation he flung himself backward onto the ground and threw one arm over his face. He sobbed loudly, not caring if that’s how his friends found him, covered in tears and snot and vomit, at least they would find him and they could take him away from this horrible forest.

But how were they going to find him? He was in the middle of nowhere and…

“Lance?”

Keith! He had never been so happy to see that mullet in his life!

Lance was crying too hard to vocalize a proper response, so he held out both his arms and waved them in the air.

“’m h-he-here,” Lance shuddered hard. He was going numb from the cold.

“What are you doing on the ground? We’ve been looking for- Shit.”

Keith must have seen his leg.

“Shiro! Shiro, he’s here! He’s hurt! Shiro!”

Lance could hear the sound of more people running through the forest and soon there were hands on him.

“Lance, what happened? What the hell is that?” Shiro was there, holding his face, checking his pulse in his neck and then very carefully looking at the trap buried into Lance’s calf.

“You found me,” Lance was so relieved, maybe he could rest a little now.

“Of course we did.” Shiro stood up and waved his arm, it lit up the darkness for a moment. “Hunk! Hunk over here!” Shiro called.

“Yeah, we found you. You shot your bayard off and you left us a trail,” Keith sounded like he thought Lance was an idiot.

“Trail?” Lance asked.

“A trail of your armor. Why did you take it off?”

“Got hot. And the pudding ground was nice at first.” Lance started crying again, but he stopped when he began gagging. Keith quickly knelt down and turned his head so that he wouldn’t choke.

“Is he drunk?” Keith asked as Lance threw up again.

“He’s something. Lance, do you know how much you drank?”

Lance was shaking his head before he threw up again. Keith awkwardly patted his shoulder.

Hunk appeared, out of breath and panicking.

“Where’s Pidge?” Shiro asked.

“She went around the other side. Whoa, his leg!”

“Okay, Hunk, listen. There is a lever that I’m pretty sure will release the trap from his foot, once I open it, Keith is going to lift his leg out, alright? And you’re going to just sit by him to try to keep him from moving.”

“Alright, it’s just, how deep do you think it is? What if his leg just like falls off and oh my-”

“Breathe, Hunk. It’s not going to fall off. It didn’t cut through.”

Lance whimpered in the background.

“I need you to hold him down, okay? It will be fast.” Shiro turned towards Keith and nodded at him. “You got it?”

Keith nodded grimly. He understood the plan. Shiro waited for Hunk to settle down beside his friend and put an arm over his chest before continuing.

“Alright, just hold him. On the count of three,” Shiro reached down for the lever. “One… Two…” Shiro pulled the lever down and Keith pulled Lance’s leg out of harm’s way. The trap snapped shut before Lance was done screaming.

“You said _three_ ,” Lance gasped out when he had enough air again. 

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s better if you don’t tense up. I’m sorry, Lance.”

Shiro was inspecting Lance’s leg. He didn’t have anything to bind it…

“Here.” Hunk had slipped off his headband and held it out to Shiro. “It’s all I’ve got.”

Shiro nodded and wrapped the cloth around Lance’s leg. That would have to be good enough for now.

“Keith, go run and tell Coran to meet us at the infirmary. And find Pidge and tell her that we found him. Watch your step.”

Keith nodded and ran off quickly into the dark. Shiro moved to Lance’s shoulder and wiped the sweat from the boy’s brow.

“You did well. You’re going to be okay. We’ll get you fixed up.”

“The ship far?” Lance forced out. He was trying so hard to keep it all together.

“Lance,” Shiro almost sounded amused. “You’ve been walking in a big circle around us. The lodge is about 150 feet that way." Shiro was pointing off to Lance's left. "You can see the lights through the trees if you look. We’re going to get you help fast.” Shiro was gently scooping Lance into his arms and the boy hissed as his leg was jostled.

“Sorry, sorry. You’re alright. It’s going to be alright,” Shiro soothed.

Hunk appeared at Shiro’s side.

“I think I got all his armor,” Hunk sounded breathless again.

“Alright, let’s go. Watch your step.”

Shiro took off at a sprint and Lance did his best not to cry out at being jostled. Lance let his head roll back on Shiro’s shoulder and he watched the stars blur together above them.

He dimly thought that they looked beautiful.. Then, everything gently faded away.

* * *

 

When Lance woke up from the pod, his whole team greeted him enthusiastically. Though there were some playful jibes about the ground being made out of pudding. Lance didn’t even remember saying it now; he didn’t remember a lot of it actually. Shiro was relieved.

“It might be better to just not remember most of it,” Shiro remarked. Shiro then hugged him and ruffled his hair. Lance beamed at the affection. “New rule,” Shiro announced. “Don’t just drink anything that anyone hands you at a party, alright? Check with me first.”

Lance nodded. There wasn’t going to be any argument from him. He then smiled at how much Shiro sounded like a concerned parent.

“Sorry I worried you,” Lance said sincerely. Shiro nodded.

“Be more careful next time.”

“I will,” Lance promised.

As they dragged him away to eat a decent meal, Lance thought he was lucky. He was lucky to be safe and lucky to be part of this team that had become so much like a family to him. They would always find him, he was sure of it. 

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't drink and I've never been drunk. So... this was weird to write. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who supported me during whump week and kept me from losing my mind. You guys are the best. I'm going to go take a nap for about 10 hours.


End file.
